Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the National Audit Office report entitled Supporting people to work through jobcentres, published on 31 March 2025, what steps her Department plans to take to increase the number of jobcentre work coaches in the next 12 months; and whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the number of work coaches on jobcentres’ ability to provide the intended level of support.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are reforming both the welfare and employment support systems to make best use of our work coaches’ time, ensuring a system that is fit for purpose.
We are targeting support where it is needed most to tackle ill-health and disability-related economic inactivity. This includes £1 billion per year of new funding across the United Kingdom by the end of the decade to establish a new guarantee of support for all disabled people and people with health conditions claiming out of work benefits who want help to get into or return to work.
We are also reforming our Jobcentres, bringing together Jobcentre Plus and the National Careers Service to meet the needs of local labour markets, people and employers whilst embracing technology to improve customer service and free up work coach time.
Through reforming how we deliver our support, we can ensure people get the level of support they need and that we can get Britain Working. We will have further updates to this change programme in due course.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the proposed reforms to Personal Independence Payments on blind and partially sighted people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is assessed on needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability rather than the health condition or disability itself. Individuals can be impacted by their health conditions in different ways and the assessment considers the effect on a person’s day to day life.
Information on the impacts of the Pathways to Work Green Paper will be published in due course, and some information was published alongside the Spring Statement. These publications can be found in ‘Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper’.
A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the 1.7% increase in benefits that are linked to inflation from April 2025 for disabled people receiving a state pension.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Attendance Allowance (which provides support for pensioners with care needs) has been consistently uprated in line with inflation since it was introduced and will be increased by 1.7% from April 2025. This means that the higher rate of Attendance Allowance will be £110.40 per week, and the lower rate £73.90 per week in 2025/26. Expenditure on Attendance Allowance was around £6.9 billion (real terms) in 2023/24 and is forecast to increase to £7.7 billion in 2024/25, before rising to £8.6 billion by 2029/30. Extra-costs disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment and Disability Living Allowance, which may also be paid to people over state pension age, will also be increased by 1.7% from 7 April 2025.
In addition to this, over 12 million pensioners will see their basic or new State Pension increase by 4.1% in April 2025, worth up to £470 a year. Our commitment to protect the Triple Lock on the new and basic State Pensions means that, over the course of this Parliament (up to and including 2029/30), the OBR forecasts that Government spending on the State Pension will rise by over £31 billion.
We are also increasing the standard minimum guarantee in Pension Credit by 4.1%. Pension Credit provides extra money to help with living costs for people over State Pension age and on a low income and includes additional amounts for those with a severe disability, caring responsibilities, responsibility for a child, or certain housing costs. Extra-costs disability benefits can also give rise to a disability addition in Pension Credit, meaning that disabled pensioners are more likely to be entitled to Pension Credit, and at a higher amount, than those without disabilities.